Category Archives: Education

Embedded systems are special-purpose computers that users don’t think of as computers. Examples include cell phones, traffic light controllers, and programmable thermostats. In earlier posts I argued why any computer scientist should take a compilers course and an operating systems course. These were easy arguments to make since these areas are core CS: all graduates […]

If you buy a university-level instructor a beer and ask her to tell you how great the standardized course evaluation forms are, you’re likely to get an earful. I’m talking about the multiple-choice forms that students fill out towards the end of each course they take, asking them to assign a 1-5 rating to statements […]

Matching students up with research projects is entertaining but difficult. The project has to be at the right level of difficulty, has to fit the student’s time frame, and has to interest the student. If grant money is going to be used to pay the student, the work has to fit into the funded project. […]

[Also see why take an OS course and why take an embedded systems course.] All good computer science departments offer a compilers course, but relatively few make it a required part of the undergraduate curriculum. This post answers the question: Why should you take this course, even if you never plan on writing a compiler? […]

[Also see why take a compilers course and why take an embedded systems course.] The other day, while having coffee with a colleague, I mentioned that I’ll be teaching OS in the fall. His area is far from computer systems and he asked me what’s the point of this class? What are the students supposed […]

The Trinity test occurred on a calm morning. Enrico Fermi, one of the observers, began dropping bits of paper about 40 seconds after the explosion; pieces in the air when the blast wave arrived were deflected by about 2.5 meters. From this crude measurement, Fermi estimated the bomb’s yield to be ten kilotons; he was […]

Good jobs have barriers to entry. Sometimes these barriers are natural (not everyone is capable of writing a novel or being a leader) and sometimes they are artificial (not everyone is born in the right place or to the right parents). Many well-paid jobs requiring very specialized skills are protected by — among other mechanisms […]

I enjoy going out drinking with my colleagues, although it only seems to happen a few times a year. It should come as a surprise to nobody that professors are natural bullshitters and people always have good stories: nearly destroying a ticket booth at Alta while doing avalanche control work, barely sub-nuclear pyrotechnic displays out […]

In Fall 2010 I’ll teach my Advanced Embedded Systems course for the fifth time. This is a class that I enjoy teaching and that students generally enjoy taking. I created it from scratch and am fairly proud of it. There’s just one problem: I’m ready to stop giving the lectures. First, although I tweak and […]